Visit from Oma

This past week, my mom came to Maryland for a visit!  We all loved seeing her, but Nora was especially delighted to get to spend plenty of time with her.  We have been video chatting since she was born, but for the past several weeks we have been sending short videos back and forth on our iphones/ipads.  This means that most mornings, Nora starts her day by finishing her milk, reaching toward my phone plugged into the wall, and saying "Oma again?"  She is still pretty shy around strangers or family members that she doesn't see very often, so I was very excited that she knew exactly who my mom was when she first saw her.  She didn't need to warm up to her at all-- right away, she was comfortable asking my mom for all the things she regularly requests of us.

We had all sorts of weather while Mom was here, but we still managed to enjoy quite a few activities.  Vickie was also off work for most of the week, so an added bonus of Mom's visit was getting to spend even more time with her than usual.

On Wednesday, we all met on campus for a mini-shoot with Ena of One Art Photography.  I'll post more of these photos once I get the full set, but for now, here is a sneak peak of one I love of all four of us posing on the mall.

On Thursday, we kept Nora home from day care again and took her to Port Discovery, the children's museum in Baltimore.  I had never given much thought to taking her there because I figured it was mostly geared toward older kids, but after Mom made the suggestion, I was glad to see just how many things there were for Nora to do there.  She ran out of rooms to explore right around the same time she was running out of steam, so it turned out to be a perfect outing.  Her favorite room, not surprisingly, was the one where there are several water stations for the kids to splash around in and a big bubble hoop that you can stand inside.

My plan to take an awesome picture of Oma and Nora above East Baltimore was thwarted by the wind up there-- but if you look closely between them, you can see Aunt Vickie's new building!

I'm pretty sure she was the only child there with a 3:1 adult to child ratio.  Spoiled much?

On Friday, Nora's teachers wanted to see her at school and I wanted to have some time to work on my own schoolwork, so Mom and Vickie hung out along with Tres until the early afternoon, when we all met back up at our house.  On Saturday, we all took a trip to Annapolis to get lunch, do a little shopping, and take a trip to Quiet Waters Park to wander around.  It was the most beautiful weather of the week, so we were lucky to have an outdoor activity planned!  We found ourselves in a slightly different part of the park than we usually visit and discovered that there was a little beach area where Nora could wade in the calm, shallow water.  I thought she might just put her feet in, but she walked right in as deep as I would let her go!  She loved floating on her back, kicking her feet, jumping in the water, and letting me drag her around in a circle.  We all loved watching her, and it was a special treat for Oma to see her first real experience in the water!  (We did take her in the pool once last summer, but she really wasn't too interested in it.)

After the park, we all went back to the house to hang out for a few hours.  We even played a few rounds of paper telephone, making it a family game night.  We missed you, Nate, Ashley, and Everett!

On Sunday, mom and I got ourselves up and ready to run the Father's Day 10K I try to run every year. Mom planned her trip a few months ago, and when she realized she would be here for the race, she agreed to join me in running it.  It has been fun hearing about her training regimen, and I have been so impressed with her determination and improvement.  I hadn't been able to train nearly as hard on account of the Semester Long Sickness, but I did feel well enough to run for a few weekends beforehand.  We started off together, but then Mom told me to take off because she prefers to run paced intervals.  I was excited to see that she wasn't very far behind when the course doubled back on itself, and I was thrilled to see that she finished the 6.2 miles in 1 hour, 20 minutes!  Pretty impressive for her first race ever!  Billy brought Nora to cheer us on at the finish, so that was an added bonus.  Three generations of determined women in one picture!

Billy's parents put together a great Father's Day dinner early enough to still get Mom to the airport on time, so that was the perfect way to wrap up her visit and replace all those calories we burned in the morning.  : )

We are so thankful Mom finds creative ways to stay involved in Nora's life and let Nora know how well she is loved from the opposite coast.  Nora has been talking about Oma ever since her departure, so we know she is looking forward to seeing her again in a few months!  When riding in the car yesterday, she was saying "Oma right there!" and pointing to the empty seat next to her.  And she has also been practicing saying "Hasta luego," which Mom taught her right before she left.